City Initiative News

The city of Seoul was the recipient of the Milan Pact Special Mention Award, the highest honor in the global food industry, for its Urban-Rural Mutual Growth Food Provision project – a project that promotes the direct supply of local ecological ingredients to Seoul’s public food provisions facilities – earning it worldwide recognition on the global stage for its innovative urban food supply system.

The Milan Pact Awards are awards given to cities that demonstrate outstanding performance in creating sustainable food policy and implementing the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact Framework of Action, currently participated in by as many as 163 cities in 62 countries, with cities including Paris, London, and New York. In its third year since its establishment in 2016, it recognizes organizations of excellence in a total of eight different categories.

Seoul’s Urban-Rural Mutual Growth Food Provisions policy received especially high marks in the Food Supply and Distribution category, earning it the final vote to become this year’s award recipient. This project initially commenced in 2017 across the country, incorporating a public food system to the distribution network of ingredients for food provision operations, and was noted for having instilled a mutual growth between urban and rural communities through a continuous cycle of direct distribution.

The ceremony was held on September 4, Tuesday, at 4 pm local time in Tel Aviv, Israel, during the 4th Annual Milan Urban Food Policy Pact Yearly Conference with delegates from 160 pact cities in attendance, as well as officials from international organizations, including the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

The city of Seoul, Milan Pact Award recipient, bases the core of its Urban-Rural Mutual Growth Food Provisions project indirectly supplying ecological ingredients to public food provision facilities, accentuating its improvement being made upon the complications of the pre-existing distribution networks (local producers → local food provision centers → food provision facilities) by integrating the network through a system of direct supply. This resulted in the reduction of distribution expenditure, in addition to the installation of a public food supply system that guarantees a steady provision of healthy ingredients to public food facilities at an affordable price.